By: Nick Gambino
There I was minding my own business, thinking about my present day problems when – bam – out of nowhere I’m hit with a blast of nostalgia from my 90s childhood. Nintendo announced at their Direct event this week that they’re bringing back the long-forgotten Virtual Boy.
Now, I haven’t thought of the Virtual Boy since at least the early 2000s. The headset was Nintendo’s attempt to journey into the world of VR when the technology was still in pretty rough shape.
I mean, it was so rough that every game featured red monochrome visuals which I guess was necessary at the time to lend itself to a 3D feel. There’s no way they made that decision from an aesthetic point of view. In fact, that off-putting red is probably what killed this system right out the gate.
Once the novelty of the gimmick ran its course, players were just left with a pretty ugly red on black display that stripped characters like Mario of all their character and charm. Not to mention, the strain on your eyes. Try sticking your head in a hole and staring at bright red lights on a black background for long stretches.
But retro is in and a lot of us are suckers for nostalgia, so Nintendo is bringing the Virtual Boy back. The headset will be an accessory for the Switch and Switch 2. Players will be able to dock their Switch right into the headset and play a ton of re-released Virtual Boy games.
They are releasing 14 games in total, at least to begin with. These include Mario’s Tennis, Galactic Pinball, Space Invaders, Tetris and Teleroboxer. The latter is a game I distinctly remember playing on a friend’s Virtual Boy.
Nintendo is releasing the full headset reminiscent of the original, but they’re also releasing a cardboard headset version of it for those who want to try it out without breaking the bank.
The Virtual Boy will sell for $99.99 while theVirtual Boy cardboard model will go for $24.99. Everything should hit shelves February 17, 2026.
